Juvet Landscape Hotel, Alstad, Norway
The Queen of Norway, no less, will open these highly unusual, sleek hotel rooms balancing on thin metal poles in an isolated landscape near the country's beautiful western fjords. The ten buildings will be ready by the summer, and look like giant shoeboxes made out of strips of local wood. Some walls consist of smoked glass - so you can stare out at nature, but nature can't stare back.

The interiors have dark finishings with designer chairs placed by the windows. The overall effect is of a James Bond baddie's hideaway, although the hotel's management describes the cube-like buildings as “creating a harmonious marriage where Nature and modern design bring out the best in each other”.

Guests will be offered ski trips in the winter or guided walks, rock climbing and rafting - all part of the hotel's room rate. The buildings are on the grounds of a picturesque farm that dates back to the 16th century, but now farming is being put to one side, with tourism, and the language of tourism taking over: “[We will] take care of visitors in a proper manner, so they continue their journey enriched with heartening good feelings.”

Juvet Landscape Hotel, Alstad, 6210 Valldal, Norway. From £342, meals, “excursions and Norwegian stories” included

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W Hotel, Santiago, Chile
The W Hotel chain - the trendy arm of Starwood Hotels - is mushrooming over the next 12 months with openings in Doha, New York, St Petersburg, Barcelona, Bali, Puerto Rico and Santiago. The latter is perhaps the most interesting - situated across from Plaza Peru in the centre of town but with a view of the Andes.

The hotel owners point out that Santiago is one of the few cities in the world where you have access to both ski slopes and beaches.

W Hotel Santiago, Isidora Goyenechea 3000, Santiago, Chile. Rates not set

Andaz, New York
Hot on the heels of the Andaz Hotel at Liverpool Street Station comes a sister hotel on Wall Street. There will be 350 hotel rooms created by designers at the Rockwell Group. The hotel, due to open in April, claims that it will become “a focal point for casual conversations and impromptu fun”. An Andaz is also planned for West Hollywood next year.

Andaz, 75 Wall Street, New York. From £307

Boundary, London
Terence Conran says that his new project in Shoreditch - a restaurant with rooms due to open next month - will be “gutsy”. Boundary, his first private venture since Bibendum in 1987, is in conjunction with his wife, Vicki, the designer, and Peter Prescott. There will be 17 rooms in the revamped former warehouse with an introductory rate of £200. Five suites are being styled by individual designers, including David Tang, the entrepreneur behind the Shanghai Tang clothing range.

Boundary, 2-4 Boundary Street, London E2. From £200, room only

Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh
The Italian fashion dynasty Missoni is launching its first two hotels this year: in Edinburgh and Kuwait City. Both will have a bold use of colour that has become a trademark of the designer - see the “caleidoscopio” section of www.missoni.com. But the rooms will be in more subdued tasteful colours, with olive-green cushions and muted turqouise walls. Opening this spring.

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